New Divide
by PartyPoisonandFunGhoul
Summary: Years ago, Tallest Red promised to protect illegally-born smeets. This plan didn't quite work out. Two words-CIVIL WAR. But what happens when Earth gets involved? PS There's also some DATR, ZADF and ZAGR. Most of the OCs die, so don't worry 'bout 'em.
1. Illegal

**A/N: The first few chapters might be boring because there's very little Zim, Dib, Gaz, Gir, and Tak. There is, however, a lot of Tallest. I have some OCs, but they don't get a lot of dialogue (after the beginning, anyway), and I end up killing most of them anyway… And Maian… Yeah… She's dead. O-e**

Prologue

"_Red!" the female Irken shrieked, desperate to be heard above the din of the battle raging outside. The Tallest turned to her and growled._

"_Maian, you realize there's a war starting here?"_

_The female glared at him, and the bundle in her arms began to squirm. _

"_There isn't much time," she shouted. There was a loud boom in the distance, and Red felt like he was on the verge of panic._

"_Alright, make this quick!"_

_Maian rushed towards him and shoved the bundle into his arms. He blinked._

"_A smeet?"_

"_My daughter."_

_Another crash from outside. The building rocked on its foundation._

_Red stared down at the smeet in his arms. She was crying._

"_I didn't think… You went through with it…"_

_Maian blinked back tears. _

"_Fiz is all that is left of him, Red!" she choked. "Promise me you won't let anyone find out."_

_Red stared at Maian and nodded. She smiled. _

"_Now go, my Tallest! Before it's too late!"_

"_Why aren't you coming?"_

"_Red… They'll only find out…"_

Red's eyes snapped open. He had fallen asleep in his chair, and was dreaming of something that happened… What, a hundred years ago?

He stretched. Time to go pay his little friend a visit.

He stood up with some effort and grabbed his passkey from a nearby table. Making sure his troublesome colleague was nowhere in the proximity, he made his way down one of the many corridors on the Massive.

As crew members passed him, they bowed and muttered, "My Tallest," which Red would acknowledge with an impatient wave or a slight nod. It was a matter of minutes before he reached a door labeled, "PRIVATE."

He slid the passkey into the slot in the wall, and the small red light above it turned green. The doors parted and he stepped through.

Inside, he found a familiar sight. Young Irkens wearing Training Armor were everywhere-dodging lasers, throwing Vortian battle-disks, and firing guns at artificial enemies. Red's eyes narrowed. He scanned the large room for one particular Irken, who he found struggling in the corner. He slowly approached her.

Fiz was found pitifully attempting to dodge the battle-disks thrown at her. If not for the armor she was wearing, she would, no doubt, be dead. Red slammed a hand down on the Disk Dispenser's OFF switch, and Fiz looked up, startled.

"M-my Tallest," she stuttered. She awkwardly scrambled towards him, stopping a few feet away and bowing, then standing upright and saluting. This was the Irken costom.

"Fiz," Red said, formally. Fiz was facing him at an angle, so he could see something amiss behind her back. "Your… 'PAK'… Is coming undone. Again."

Fiz's face turned a deeper shade of green as she tried in vain to correct her PAK. It was, of course, a fake one, since she was an Illegal, but no one on the Massive needed to know that.

Red sighed impatiently and walked behind Fiz. He pushed the PAK into place, hoping no one had seen the act.

"You don't have to be so careless, Fiz," he patronized, "your parents didn't die just to have you discovered."

Fiz turned around and eyed the Tallest nervously. Her parents' death was a touchy subject. The only two Irkens alive that knew the story were Tallest Red and herself.

Fiz tried to be more positive.

"On the plus side, my training has improved!" she informed Red with a hopeful smile. Red did not return it.

"Yeah, I can tell from the burns all over your body."

"She is telling the truth, my Tallest," said a voice. Red and Fiz turned to see a red-eyed Irken named Hex approaching them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fiz's blush deepen.

"Really, now?" asked Red, casually. "I'm sure you've been helping her quite a lot."

"You could say that."

There was a long, cold silence between the three. Red trusted Hex, for the most part, but he did _not _approve of his affection for Fiz. After the night of her fathers' death, Red's hatred of affection in general had intensified almost alarmingly.

You see, one-hundred years ago, an Irken named Gadd, who Red almost considered a friend, had fallen in love with a female named Maian. Red had helped keep the affair secret, for Gadd's sake, but it had been hard.

When Maian became pregnant with Gadd's smeet, there had been some tension rising between Irk and planet Myhn. Irken soldiers were warned that a war might break out. Gadd was among those soldiers. He was assigned a guard post on planet Z'Aht, an Irken colony, which happened to be where the first battle broke out. Gadd's body was counted among the fallen.

Myhn's armada didn't actually get to Irk for four months-one month after Maian had given birth to Fiz, who was the spitting-image of her father. Maian gave Fiz to Red, hoping he could somehow help her blend in with the "normal" Irkens. So far, that plan had worked out. Fiz was issued a fake PAK and spent most of her time in training. Every day, Red feared that she would be discovered. For some reason or another, he felt some loyalty towards the young female, although admittedly, she was not the only Illegal he knew of. Which was exactly why he was here.

"Fiz… I need to speak to you in private," Red muttered, with a meaningful glance at Hex. Hex narrowed his eyes and turned away, obviously taking the hint.

"Come with me."

In the privacy of Tallest Red's sleeping quarters (one of the few rooms that weren't constantly monitored by the Control Brain), Red confided in the young female

"Fiz... I… Assume you know about other Illegals."

Fiz didn't make direct eye-contact with Red.

"I've… Met a few."

Red knew what she was thinking-_This is it. He wants names. He's going to have us all executed. _He sighed.

"Don't you trust me, Fiz?" he asked. Fiz shrugged. Sure, Red had protected her all these years, but she wasn't sure if she really trusted him. He did, after all, rule Irk.

"Fiz, I know who they are. I know about Scree, and Quinn, and Zar, and Mikar, a bunch of others that you probably don't even know are Illegals."

Fiz looked up at him.

"Then why did you bring me here?"

Red leaned closer to her.

"Because, Fiz. Your kind can't stay hidden forever. Tallest Purple is suspicious of you, and he's not a _complete _idiot. If he finds out, he _will _want you executed. Heck, he might even get rid of me while he's at it. When and if you get discovered, I just want you to be prepared."

**A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter was confusing. I did as much explaining as I could. Basically, Fiz was an illegally-born Irken smeet, and Red's trying to protect her, along with any other Illegals. You probably guessed what's gonna happen-Purple will find out and Irk will go into war. But what will happen if Earth gets involved?**

**Zim: SHUT UP! DON'T SPOIL IT!**

**Dib: YEAH!**

**Me: FINE! Anyway, please R&R! Thanks!**


	2. Dwicky and Cru

**A/N: Hey-y! It's me, Party Poison! This chapter is dedicated to ****sakiko of soleana****, the first person EVER to review this story! You rock! ****Just one thing I wanna make clear-I KNOW RED WAS OOC IN THAT LAST CHAPTER. But, in my defense, he's supposed to come off as cold towards Fiz, because he was friends with her parents, and they died. He's also risking his life for this little brat, and she doesn't even thank him! I mean, come on!**

**Zim: When do we come in?**

**Dib: Yeah, it's boring without us!**

**Me: Patience, young ones. Your time will come. Zim and Tak will have to fight, and the humans will have to temporarily colonize on Irk, and a bunch of nifty stuff will happen, and-**

**Zim/Dib/Tak/Gaz: STOP SPOILING EVERYTHING!**

**Me: Oh… Right… One last thing-THERE'S A FIVE-SECOND SHIRTLESS SCENE! BE SURE TO WASH YOUR MIND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! AAAAAAAH!**

**Everyone: O_e**

Chapter 2

_Some time earlier_

"See you 'round, Dwicky!" Mooshy called cheerfully. "Yeah, see you 'round!"

Spoopty echoed. The human they were addressing set his bags down on the ground to wave at them.

"Bye, guys! And thanks!"

The doors of the Plookesian ship closed, and Mooshy and Spoopty headed back to their home planet. Dwicky picked his bags up again and, whistling, headed towards the building his friends had directed him to.

These past six years had been amazing. He had traveled all over the universe, and visited several planets. He'd never look at anything the same way again.

With a sudden burst of energy, Dwicky began running. He reached the building and paused for a moment to catch his breath before going inside.

He pushed the door open and swaggered on in.

A chubby Irken female was sitting behind the counter, staring into a hologram of what looked like a giant ship and taking notes. Dwicky cleared his throat and she looked up.

"What the heck are-um, I mean, how can I help you?" she asked, looking baffled.

"I'd like to know the next time the _Massive_ will be stopping here," Dwicky stated. The Irken raised an eyebrow and turned away for a moment. The sounds of an Irken computer beeping was all Dwicky heard. Then she turned back to him.

"This evening. Actually, they should be arriving now… Wonder what's keeping them…"

As if on cue, a loud, low rumbling filled Dwicky's ears. He rushed outside and looked up.

The _Massive_ was magnificent. He had seen it once before, from a distance, but this… This was breathtaking.

The ship wouldn't land on Irk-it was much too big for that-but there were special teleporters in place that would make it possible to board and leave the ship. Guards were stationed at each teleporter. Dwicky watched one of them began to shimmer and spark. Then, there was a bright flash, and an Irken appeared in the center. He adjusted the coat he was wearing and stepped into the light.

The Irken was almost as tall as Dwicky, which the man found odd. He had only met one Irken in his life, but he knew that they were generally short. Except for their leaders. Oh, good lord! This wasn't… This couldn't be…

"Um, sir! Your… Majesty… Tallness… Sir!" stuttered Dwicky with an awkward bow. The Irken smirked.

"Not the first time that's happened," he chuckled. He patted Dwicky on the head as he passed. No one gave him a second glance-what was with these people? Didn't they show their leader any kind of respect?

Dwicky realized what had just happened-that… Hadn't been the Tallest. Yow. _That's embarrassing. _

He stepped aside as more Irkens poured out of the teleporters. Dwicky watched intently, waiting to see someone else taller than a 5th-grader. No one came. He waited for a long time-an hour passed, and finally, everyone who was leaving had left. Dwicky approached a guard.

"Uh… 'Scuse me?"

The guard held up a hand.

"Boarding doesn't start for another hour, whatever-you-are. Even a foreigner like you should know that."

Dwicky shook his head.

"No, no-I was wondering if there was a way I could speak to the Tallest."

The guard only stared. Then he threw back his head and laughed.

"Like I said, boarding doesn't start for an hour! The Tallest don't leave the Massive unless it's absolutely critical."

Dwicky thought for a moment. He could pay an insane amount of money and board the _Massive, _or he could just stay on Irk and rot.

Was it absolutely necessary that he see the Tallest? After all, there was probably a perfectly logical explanation as to why a PAK-less Irken was traveling the universe, spreading word that the Irken empire needed to be overthrown.

Dwicky frowned. Of course he wasn't going to give up! He was going to speak to the Tallest, no matter how much it cost him. He cleared his throat.

"Uh… How much does it cost to-"

"One million moneys."

Crap. That was everything Dwicky had saved in the past six years. The man sighed. Hopefully, this would be worth it.

_The Massive, the night of Red and Fiz's talk_

It had been a long day. Fiz opened the door to her sleeping chamber and shuffled inside. She could barely keep her eyes open, and the thought of collapsing onto her bed was quite inviting.

She snapped her fingers and the lights flickered on. Her roommate, Cru, was probably not going to be back anytime soon.

Fiz had been training for twenty hours straight, along with about four-hundred other Irkens. The reason they were training privately on the Massive instead of the Irken training Planet, Devastis, was complicated. Not even the trainees themselves knew the whole story. As far as any of them could tell, they had some kind of special talents. Some of the trainees suspected Red was preparing them for some kind of battle. From what Red had told her, Fiz thought this was a pretty logical concusion.

The door behind her slid shut and she kicked off her boots. Making sure the porthole was covered, she reached behind her and pressed a button on her PAK. With a hiss, it popped off and fell to the ground.

Fiz glared at it in distaste. Why did she have to hide? Sure, she had been born illegally, but that wasn't her fault. There was no reason to be ashamed of her birth.

Sighing, she pulled off her shirt and grabbed the bottle of ointment kept on her nightstand. The fake PAK left a large rash on her back, which was well on its way to getting infected. _That's the last thing I need, _she thought. She squeezed some of the sweet-smelling liquid into her hand and tried her best to reach her back.

"HRGH!"

She didn't realize how loud she was being. She swore and cursed as if she were drunk-WHY DID HER ARMS HAVE TO BE SO SHORT?

"Fiz?" a voice said suddenly.

Fiz felt her heart skip a beat.

"GAAH! Don't come in!"

She franticly pulled her shirt back on and sat on her bed, trying to appear as casual as possible.

"Uh… You can come in now…"

Cru opened the door and walked in. She was a violet-eyed Irken with long antennae that reached past her hips. She was nice enough (as nice as an Irken could be), but Fiz wasn't sure she was ready to trust her with her secret.

Her roommate was holding a bag of mini-doughnuts.

"I brought you some food," she informed her. Fiz yawned.

"Thanks, Cru, but I'm really tired… You can just set them on the table there, okay?"

"Okay…"

Cru was no longer looking at her. She was staring at something lying on the ground. Fiz's stomach lurched.

In her haste, she had forgotten to reattach her PAK.

**BWAHAHAHAHA! CLIFF-HANGER! What's gonna happen? WHO KNOWS! R&R! Thanks!**

**~Party Poison**


	3. Remember the Name

**A/N Well, it looks like only ONE PERSON is reading this story! That kinda makes me sad. *pouts* ANY way, let's see what happened to our dear friend, Dwicky…**

Chapter 3

Dwicky was escorted into the piloting room in the _Massive _by a muscular Irken named Mikal. When he entered, the crew members all stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Irkens had naturally large eyes, and the staring made Dwicky considerably uncomfortable. He was ushered down a catwalk. The Tallest were sitting in chairs in the middle of the immense room, but they weren't facing him. Mikal cleared his throat.

"My Tallest?"

"What?" one of them asked in a bored tone.

"There's a… Human… Here to see you."

For a moment, no one moved. Then, slowly, they swiveled their chairs around.

"Thanks, Mikal, we'll take it from here," called the red-clad one. Mikal nodded and hurried away.

Dwicky bowed awkwardly.

"My Tallest… Sirs… My name is Daniel Dwicky. I'm from Earth-" the Tallests' eyes narrowed when he mentioned his home planet-"but for the past six years, I've been flying around the universe with some Plookesians named Mooshy and Spoopty. Uh… Well, the reason I'm here is, well, we stopped on the planet Foodcourtia a while back, and we heard about something… Someone is plotting to overthrow the Irken empire."

There was a chilled silence. The Tallest wearing red turned a paler shade of green, but the one next to him, the one wearing purple, seemed interested.

"Who's plotting to overthrow us? It's not that _Resisty _again, is it?"

Dwicky shook his head. He had heard of the Resisty, but as far as he knew, they were going to be laying low for a while.

"No, it was an Irken. An Irken is plotting to destroy you all."

Purple raised an eyebrow.

"He didn't have a PAK, I noticed. Don't all Irkens have to have a PAK to survive?" Dwicky added as an afterthought. Purple and Red exchanged concerned looks.

"What was this Irken's name, Dwicky?" asked Red.

"Uh… Lemme think… Like I said, it was a while ago…"

More silence. Then-"His name was Kreelor."

Red stared at the human in disbelief. _I thought Kreelor was dead! _he thought. Hopefully, Purple wouldn't remember "the incedent", almost one-hundred years ago.

But, his co-ruler wasn't as dumb as he looked.

"You say this guy had no PAK?" he asked. Dwicky nodded. Purple turned to Red. "I thought we had all Illegals executed!"

Red nodded.

"Of course we do! So, obviously, Dwicky, you made some kind of mistake."

Red didn't want anyone to know that his worst fears had been realized-the inevitable War was approaching, faster then he had expected.

Dwicky was escorted out of the room, and the matter was forgotten. At least, that was what each Tallest wanted the other to believe.

"You… You're an Illegal, aren't you?"

Fiz could only stare at Cru in horror-this was a scene from one of her worst nightmares. She had been discovered. She was going to die.

Cru bent over and picked up Fiz's PAK. She examined it for a moment, then threw it onto Fiz's bed.

"I should have known."

Cru looked into Fiz's eyes, and Fiz looked away.

"I'm not going to turn you in."

Fiz had _not_ been expecting that. She looked up at Cru.

"Why?"

"What have you ever done to me?" Cru asked with a shrug. "And what would I gain from having you killed? Honestly, though, I'd be more careful if I were you. I know there are some Irkens on this ship who would LOVE to score points with the Tallest, and what better way then to be discover an illegally-born Irken? Take Scree, for example. Or Wart. Or-"

"I get it, I get it, everyone hates me! You don't have to rub it in!"

Cru smiled and left the room. Fiz watched her go and sighed.

_If we're going to war for our freedom, we better do it soon…_

**A/N I know, this chapter was short and suckish (kinda like me!), but at least I got the main point across… And I'm pretty sure Zim, Gir, Dib, Gaz, Tak, and Mimi will be in the next chapter. I haven't exactly planned it out yet.**

**PEACE SUCKAAAAAHZ!**

**~Party Poison**


	4. It Begins

**A/N: WOOT! More people read and reviewed this story! So, uh, I thought I'd tell you all why it's called "New Divide." It's kinda named after the song by Linkin Park, and the title just fits, because the Empire is dividing. **

Chapter 4

_One month later_

"Ah, the _Massive… _It's been so long…"

An evil grin spread across Kreelor's face as his cloaking suit propelled him closer and closer to the ship. Once he infiltrated, the rebellion would begin.

The Irken knew that there was a rather large chance that, in a couple of hours, he would be dead. That didn't matter-what he wanted was freedom for his fellow Illegals. Kreelor was not a coward. He was not like his parents.

_One… Hour… Later…_

Fiz awoke to the sounds of an alarm blasting from the speaker in the ceiling. She sat up so quickly she almost gave herself whiplash and dashed out of her bedroom.

Cru met her in the main room.

"What's happening?" the two females screeched in unison. Just then, Hex burst in, followed by Scree.

"Fiz, we gotta go!" Hex shouted above the din of the alarm. He grabbed Fiz's hand and pulled her out into the hall. Cru wasn't far behind.

"There they are! Two Illegals!" someone yelled. The group ran faster-Fiz realized what was happening.

"How did they find-" she started to ask, before Cru tripped and fell. Fiz stopped running-Hex almost yanked her hand off.

"What are you doing?"

"Cru!"

Cru was obviously hurt, but she motioned for them to keep running.

"I'll be fine! Go!"

Scree was far ahead of them now, though Fiz had no idea where they were going. She tried to ask, but she was already suffering a lack of oxygen from all the running.

Fiz heard more yelling, although she got the feeling that not all of it was directed at her. Finally, they reached the hangers.

Hex and Scree led Fiz to a tiny ship-one that appeared big enough for, maybe, three Irkens? Scree pressed a button on the wristband she was wearing and an oddly-shaped door opened. She ran inside, followed by Hex and Fiz. The door closed automatically behind them.

"Will someone please tell me where we're going?"

Hex looked at Fiz with grave eyes.

"We're going to Earth," he said quietly, "the only place where they won't find you."

"Ahem?" Scree cut in.

"Or Scree," Hex muttered.

Fiz stared into Hex's large, red eyes, as the recent events began to sink in. Her eyes started to sting, and her throat tightened. Hex, realizing how badly she must be taking all of this, wrapped his arms around her, whispering to her empty promises that everything would be alright.

_Twelve Hours Later_

The ship touched down behind a small house in a quiet suburb. Fiz was eager to get out and explore her new surroundings, but Hex held her back.

"First, we need our disguises," he reminded her.

"Oh, yeah."

Hex handed Fiz and Scree their… Disguises.

"Our disguises are… Bracelets?" Scree questioned, looking skeptical. Hex rolled his eyes.

"Watch."

He put his own bracelet on and tapped it. Almost immediately, his antennae vanished, replaced with a mess of blond hair. His skin tone lightened to a pale, peachy color. His eyes changed from crimson to white, with brown dotting each eye in the center. His three fingers multiplied and became five.

"You're… You're…"

"Hideous," Scree decided. "My turn, I guess."

She tapped her bracelet and underwent a similar change to Hex's. Her long antennae were replaced with black hair that hung in her face, with one hot pink streak near the front. Her skin tone changed paled much more drastically than Hex's-it was almost pure white. Her fuchsia eyes turned blue, and she was given the appropriate added fingers on each hand.

"Hm," she said, looking at her reflection in the window, "I'm unrecognizable. Guess you're not a total failure, Hex."

Hex ignored the insult.

"Alright, Fiz, let's see yours!"

Fiz nervously tapped her bracelet. A strange tingling began in her abdomen, then spread all over her body. It didn't hurt, but it was rather uncomfortable. The tingling intensified in her scalp.

After about a minute, she felt normal again. She smiled sheepishly.

"How do I look?"

"Dumb."

Hex glared at Scree.

"You look… Good! For a human, at least."

They jumped out of the ship, onto the lawn.

"So… What now?" asked Fiz. Hex looked around.

"Tallest Red told me to bring you two here, and contact two Irkens named Tak and Zim, but… I don't think they're around here."

"Wait a minute-" hissed Scree, "-we're going to get help from _Zim? _That imbecile? Are you insane?"

Hex took a deep breath.

"No, Scree, I am no insane. I'm a little worried about the Tallest, however."


	5. Zim's Stalkers

**A/N: Annnnd CUE MAIN CHARACTERS! ^_^ Sorry if Dib seems like an airhead, but, ya know, he kind of is (that's why I love him so much). Also, the end of the chapter sucks. Just to warn you.**

Chapter 5

Fifteen-year-old Dib Membrane was happy. He didn't know why, he just was. On this, the first day of his sophomore year of high school, he was optimistic, which was weird, considering he was… Well, Dib.

As he and his sister, Gaz, walked down the street to the Hi Skool, he found himself explaining the scientific properties of a vampire.

"So, of course, since they're undead, it would make total sense that the sunlight would make them burn up-"

Gaz grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Dib, I swear, if you don't shut up, I will tear your head off and feed it to an anaconda!" she hissed. Dib blinked, wondering how close the nearest anaconda would be located. Gaz let go of him and continued walking. Their school was in sight now, and Dib broke into a run when he saw a familiar indigo-haired girl.

"Tak!" he called. She looked up and waved half-heartedly to him and turned back to the boy she was addressing, who Dib realized was Zim.

"Hey!" he panted, once he had finally managed to reach them. He gave Tak a small peck on the cheek, which she hardly seemed to notice. She was glaring hard at Zim.

"So, you're saying that the social networking companies are controlling the humans minds…?" she asked. Zim nodded earnestly.

"And, when the time is right, they will… CALL THEM TOGETHER AS THEIR ZOMBIE ARMY AND HAVE THEM DO THEIR EVIL BIDDING!" He paused for a moment. "I wish I had thought of that…"

Tak stared at him.

"Are you insane?"

"What?"

"You can't possibly believe-AARGH!"

Tak put her head in her hands. This happened a lot-her brain was overloaded with Zim's idiocy. How Gaz, intolerant as she was, could put up with it like she did was beyond anyone's comprehension.

Zim folded his arms and glared at Tak, irritated that she didn't appreciate his "genius." He opened his mouth to say something, but just then Gaz joined the group.

"Hey," she mumbled, immersed in her game. Zim's expression brightened a bit. Dib pretended not to notice-he didn't exactly approve of Zim's relationship with his sister.

"SAY CHEESE!" a voice squealed. The four turned towards the voice-Gir was standing there holding up a camera, with a big, stupid grin on his face.

"No!" snapped the four teenagers. Gir took the picture anyway.

"Awww! You guys are so pretty!"

With that, Gir ran down the street and disappeared from sight.

Dib rolled his eyes.

"So, how's that gerbil experiment going?" Dib asked Zim.

"Eh? Oh. Oh, that. Aw, it didn't work out." Zim kicked a pebble. "Stupid gerbils."

"Well, that's the pot calling the kettle-"

Tak was cut off when someone shoved her aside and tackled Zim to the ground.

"Not so great at hiding, are you, _Zim?_" she hissed with an evil grin.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" exclaimed Dib. The girl looked up at him and scowled.

"This doesn't concern you, _human._"

She clamped handcuffs on Zim's wrists and pulled him to his feet. She looked like was going to drag him somewhere, but she was stopped by a blond boy and a girl with red hair, who had run up just in time.

"Scree," hissed the boy, "what the _hell _do you think you're doing?"

Scree blew a lock of black hair out of her face.

"Getting something _accomplished, _of course! Unlike you guys, who are just-"

"Uh, 'scuse me?" Dib cut in. All this time, he, Tak, and Gaz had been watching the events with confused looks on their faces.

Scree and the blond boy turned to glare at him.

"_What?"_

"Why exactly do you want to kidnap Zim?"

The boy gave Scree a look like, _Nice going, genious, _and then smiled a huge, fake smile and said, "What? You didn't think we'd try to _that, _now do you?" He forced a laugh and unlocked Zim's handcuffs-of course Zim had been complaining about them this whole time. Then he grabbed Scree by the arm and he and the redhead ran inside.

"Hm… That was weird," Dib observed.

_Later that day_

By some weird coincidence, it turned out that Zim, Dib, Tak, Gaz, and the three weird kids that had attacked Zim earlier all shared the same lunch period. Dib found that fact odd, but not suspicious. Zim seemed to think otherwise.

"They're stalking me," he hissed. "They think I'm hiding something…"

Dib smirked.

"Why on _earth _would they think that, my _normal _friend?" he asked, over-annunciating each word. Zim gave him a sarcastic smirk and went back to picking at his food.

"Tell me something," he asked quietly, "are they looking at me?"

Dib, who was sitting across the table from him, and also facing the three "weird kids," looked over Zim's shoulder. What he saw slightly unnerved him. Scree and the boy were eying Zim the way a cat eyes its prey. The red-haired girl was looking around the cafeteria as if she had never seen one before.

"Uh, yeah… They're looking at you."

Zim made a tiny "YEEP!" sound and slouched down more, as if this would somehow hide him.

"You don't think they know something, do you?" he asked worriedly.

"Well… They might. I mean, look at you. You _still _don't get the concept of _ears, _do you?"

"HEY! Remember, it's-"

"A skin condition, right."

Dib took a bite of his food. His eyes kept wandering over to Scree. For some reason, she creeped him out more then the other two. The boy seemed to be the "brains" of their little group, and the redhead just looked nervous. Scree seemed like she was ready to murder the first person who pissed her off.

What if Zim was right, and they _were _stalking him? What if they had figured out that Zim was an alien?

"…Dib?"

Dib turned his head and dropped his fork.

"_Mr., Dwicky?"_

Dwicky grinned widely.

"It's great to see you again! It's been a while!"

Dib gave his former (?) counselor a tiny smile.

"Yeah… It sure has." Dwicky laughed.

"I'm the new counselor!" he informed the group. When everyone appeared indifferent, he cleared his throat and awkwardly excused himself.

Dib absently watched the man as he made his way through the cafeteria. As he passed Scree and her "friends," the redhead squealed and grabbed the boy's arm. She looked terrified. The blond boy followed her gaze, and when he saw Dwicky, his eyes widened in horror. He put his arm around the girl and whispered something to her, then looked up to see Dib staring. Something in the boy's eyes told Dib that something-something bad-was about to happen.


End file.
